Thursday, October 22, 2009

Local Activists March in Favor of Health Care Reform

This past Sunday, close to 100 local activists and concerned citizens gathered on the corner of 5th and Walnut streets in Downtown Cincinnati to march in support of health care reform. Members associated with Organizing for America, the AFL-CIO, Cincinnati Progressive Action, and the local branch of the International Socialist Organization all helped to promote this event and their messages ranged from supporting President Obama's call for a public option to calls for pressing members of Congress to have a dialogue about the adoption of a single-payer health care system.

Activists began gathering a little before 11:30am on a chilly Sunday morning, carrying homemade signs and wearing clothing that expressed their support for health care reform. As organizers began to pass out materials and leaflets, about a dozen anti-health care reform activists (some wearing shirts indicating their membership in the Cincinnati Chapters of the Tea Party and 9/12 Project Organizations) made their presence known. They carried signs implying that President Obama is ushering Socialism and Marxism and voiced many of the same concerns that have been heard at the various town hall meetings that I and many others covered throughout the country this past August.

Unlike some of the town hall meetings, those who are not in favor of health care reform were outnumbered by those in favor of fundamentally amending the health care system. Local candidates for Cincinnati City Council Nicholas Hollan, Anitra Brockman and Greg Harris were also in attendance to show their support for health care reform and as you will see in the video that I have provided below, all three spoke at the event.

The march lasted for about an hour, snaking through the streets of Cincinnati and through the hoards of people who were making their way down to Paul Brown Stadium to attend the Cincinnati Bengals game. I even heard a few cries of "Who Dey for Health Care" as I covered the event.

Below is some video footage of the march including the speeches by Nicholas Hollan, Anitra Brockman, Greg Harris and organizer Nathan Lane:




This piece is cross posted here.

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